Celebrities may face a ban up to three years for appearing in 'misleading' ads

A group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is believed to have reached a decision on this matterRavish Tiwari | ET Bureau | Updated: November 11, 2016, 11:42 IST

Picture source: ThinkStockCelebrities could face an endorsement ban up to three years for appearing in ‘misleading’ advertisements.

A group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is believed to have reached a decision to this effect on Wednesday, according to a source. The meeting chaired by Jaitley was attended by Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Health Minister JP Nadda, apart from officials.

In the initial instance, celebrities could be fined Rs 10 lakh, apart from a 1-year ban on endorsing new products, if found guilty in a misleading ad. The penal provision will go up for repeated offence. A source privy to the deliberations confided to ET that the celebrity will be fined Rs 50 lakh, along with three-year ban, against endorsement for repeat offence of pitching ‘dodgy’ products.

The suggestions are likely to bring relief to celebrities as it has done away with the jail penalty proposed by the consumer affairs ministry to deter celebrities from pitching dodgy products. The prison penalty was pushed by the ministry on recommendations of a parliamentary committee. The issue was referred to the GoM as the government sought to amend the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

A parliamentary standing committee had submitted a report on the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2015. The panel had called for “stringent provisions” to counter“misleading advertisements” and advocated making celebrities liable for endorsements in its April report.